In March, Apple announced a delay for its highly anticipated upgrade to Siri, citing the need for more time to deliver on its ambitious features. This week at WWDC 2024, Apple’s SVP of Software Craig Federighi and SVP of Worldwide Marketing Greg Joswiak offered deeper insights into the decision during an interview with The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern.
During the keynote, Apple introduced its latest Apple Intelligence updates, revealing that the new Siri would be smarter, more aware of your personal context, and capable of taking actions within your favorite apps. However, despite showcasing real software at the event, Federighi admitted that Siri “didn’t converge in the way, quality-wise, that we needed it to,” emphasizing the importance of reliability. Apple’s goal was for Siri to be “really, really reliable,” but they simply couldn’t achieve that level of dependability within the original timeline.
Joswiak added, “Look, we don’t want to disappoint customers. We never do. But it would’ve been more disappointing to ship something that didn’t meet our high standards—something with an error rate we found unacceptable. So, we made what we believed was the best decision, and I’d make it again.”
When asked why, with all its resources, Apple couldn’t make the new Siri work as planned, Federighi explained, “When it comes to automating capabilities on devices reliably, no one’s doing it really well right now. We wanted to be the first, and we wanted to do it better than anyone else.” Although early prototypes showed promise, the team ultimately concluded that the technology wasn’t reliable enough to launch as a true Apple product yet.
This candid update highlights Apple’s commitment to quality and user experience, even if it means delaying a major feature to get it right. Fans and users can look forward to a smarter, more reliable Siri in the future—once it lives up to Apple’s high standards.
